SAN ANTONIO – Longtime Reagan High School head football coach David Wetzel is leaving the program to join the football staff at Baylor University.
North East ISD Athletic Director Karen Funk confirmed with KSAT Sports Wetzel accepted a position with the Bears under new head coach Matt Rhule.
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Wetzel released a statement on the Reagan Rattlers official website that read in part:
It is with great pride that I have spent the last 13 seasons as the Athletic Coordinator/Head Football Coach at Ronald Reagan High School.
You have been so gracious to take care of me and my family during this time. We will forever be grateful to the Reagan community and family. We have lifelong friendships and many special relationships from our time here.
I will be accepting a role on Baylor University’s football staff. This is a career move that I cannot pass up. Giving back to my alma mater has always been a goal of mine. My time at Reagan has allowed me to have this outstanding opportunity.
Wetzel also thanked the faculty, staff and his players at Reagan.
Ben Baby of the Dallas Morning News reported Wetzel was hired by Baylor not as an assistant, but to most likely work with player development.
ESPN 1660 Central Texas reported Wetzel informed the Reagan coaching staff and his players early Friday morning about his departure.
Wetzel has been one of the most successful coaches in the San Antonio area since taking over the Rattlers' football program.
He has been head coach at Reagan since 2004 and has won seven district championships, including the last four.
Wetzel has coached some of the best San Antonio area quarterbacks in recent memory, including Trevor Knight, who started this season for Texas A&M, and Kellen Mond, a highly recruited senior high school player who will be attending Texas A&M after verbally decommitting from Baylor earlier this year.
Grant Teaff on @coachdwetzel, "He's a great addition to @CoachMattRhule's staff at #Baylor, outstanding coach, respected leader, fine man."
— David Smoak (@DavidSmoak) December 9, 2016
The move to Baylor is a homecoming of sorts for Wetzel, who played at the university under legendary Bears head coach Grant Teaff in the late 1980s and early 90s.
Wetzel also has coaching experience in the Central Texas area and is the current president of the Texas High School Coaches Association.
Baylor hired Rhule as its head coach on Tuesday. Rhule had been the head coach at Temple University for the last four seasons and played college football at Penn State, but did not have many ties to Texas recruiting.
Rhule said during an introductory press conference that one of his first goals as the new head coach at Baylor was to build recruiting connections in Texas.
Wetzel’s hiring indicates that Rhule has made a strong effort to build those connections as soon as possible.